


Friends Shaking Hands

by angelsaves



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M, First Dance, Semi-Public Sex, Weddings, compulsory heterosexuality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-03-03 02:35:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2834999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelsaves/pseuds/angelsaves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lardo needs a plus-one for her friend's wedding. Shitty looks pretty good in a suit. What else is a bro going to do?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friends Shaking Hands

"Shits," Lardo says. "I need a favor."

"Anything for you," Shitty says right away.

She snorts. "Wait until you hear it, first."

"Well, okay." He leans back on his hands. "Hit me."

"I need a plus-one for a wedding."

"You know I look good in a suit," Shitty says.

"My point," Lardo says. "I'm a bridesmaid, and I need someone to sit with at the reception."

"Like I said," Shitty says, "anything for you."

Lardo pats him on the back. "You're a good friend."

"I've never been to a Vietnamese wedding," he muses. "You'll have to tell me what to do."

"Katie's white. Family friend," Lardo says. "I'll still tell you what to do, though."

"You're good at it."

"I know," she says comfortably.

"So is your dress hideous? I hear that's traditional among us white people," Shitty says, picturing Lardo's unimpressed face surrounded by lime green ruffles and snickering to himself.

"I get to pick my own," Lardo says. "Anything long and dark red."

Shitty glances at her. "So you could wear one of my home jerseys."

She smacks him on the arm. "For that, you get to come shopping with me."

"I'm such a good bro that not only will I do that, I'll buy you fro yo afterwards," Shitty tells her.

"You're on."

***

It's a couple of days before they both have time to get off campus, between classes and practice and Lardo suddenly getting inspired on Tuesday and locking herself in the studio for seventeen hours, only opening the door for long enough to let Bitty pass her a plate of mini muffins. She shoves the plate back out under the door after an impressively short amount of time, even for her.

"Okay, let's go," she says when they get back to the Haus after practice Thursday morning. 

"You sound like I'm taking you to your execution," Shitty says. "You could order something online, or whatever, right?"

Lardo sighs heavily. "I have to try stuff on."

"Sucks," he says sympathetically. "Well, the sooner we go, the sooner we'll be done, right?"

"You promised me fro yo," she reminds him.

"So much fro yo," he agrees, and they get in the station wagon.

The mall is pretty quiet -- or maybe Shitty just thinks it is, because the last time he was here was a week before Christmas, so it was a madhouse. Either way, they're the only people in the dress store besides the clerk, so they get personal attention. Well, Lardo does; Shitty hangs back and watches.

"What are you looking for in a dress?" the woman asks.

"The bride wants long and dark red," Lardo says. "I thought princess seams, but that's as far as I got."

"That's a start!" The woman pulls a few dresses from the racks. Shitty thinks about pointing out that they're all different colors, none of them red, but hey, Lardo's the artist here, not him.

Lardo looks at them all, discards two of them, and takes the rest into the dressing room. "Back in a few," she says to Shitty.

"Sir, you can sit here," the clerk tells him, showing him to an overstuffed armchair, just like something out of a commercial.

"Thank you," he says, and sits down, sinking in at least four inches. "Wow, this is comfy."

"It's our best-kept secret," she says cheerily.

"What do you think of this one?" Lardo asks, coming out of the dressing room in ashiny strapless dress.

"You look like a princess," Shitty tells her, honestly.

She sticks her tongue out at him. "I was asking Alicia."

"Hmm," says Alicia. "It's not bad, but try the one with the skirt."

Lardo disappears again, then comes back in a dress with a big puffy skirt. "It's too much," she says, gesturing at her hips.

"You're right," Alicia says. "How about the lace one?"

Shitty wisely keeps his mouth shut, even though he kind of likes how swishy the skirt looks. When she comes back, though -- "Wow," he breathes.

She turns in front of the three-way mirror. "I like it," she says. It has one shoulder showing, which always gives Shitty thoughts about kissing her right there, and the skirt does a layered thing, and she's just... gorgeous.

"That looks lovely on you, honey," Alicia says, walking around to see every angle.

Lardo nods decisively. "I'll take it," she says.

Shitty's mouth is dry as she goes back to take it off. "Good dress," he says to Alicia, who gives him a knowing look.

"Maybe she'll catch the bouquet," she says.

Shitty starts to say _we're not dating_ , but he doesn't want to make the nice lady feel awkward, so he just smiles at her, and then Lardo comes back out in her regular clothes, holding the dresses.

"So, this one in the merlot color?" Alicia says, taking the dresses back.

"Yes, please," Lardo says. She pulls out her credit card to reserve the dress, while Shitty hauls himself out of the chair, which is trying to fucking swallow him or something.

Finally, he gets up, and they wave goodbye to Alicia and leave the store. "That could have been worse," Shitty says. 

"Ungh," Lardo groans. "Fro yo."

"Fro yo," Shitty agrees.

He buys her the biggest size -- medium for himself -- and watches admiringly as she houses the fucking thing.

***

The next week goes by pretty quickly: Bitty bakes five pies, the team wins against Harvard, Lardo sells one of her sculptures, the frog defensemen almost kill each other twice, and Shitty only thinks about giving Lardo a hickey in that spot right above her collarbone three times. They're fucking beautiful moments, though, until he catches himself and feels sort of guilty.

The wedding is on a Saturday morning; Lardo brings Shitty to a party the night before, with the other bridesmaids and groomsmen and their dates. "They're all married or engaged," Lardo says in the car. "Fair warning."

"Okay," Shitty says. "Do you want to... say we're dating?"

Lardo looks away, out the window. "We don't have to say we're _not_ dating," she says carefully.

"That works," Shitty says. He tries to tamp down the warm, glowy feeling that starts up in his stomach.

He holds the door for Lardo when they get to Katie's parents' house, because she's sleeping over with the rest of the bridesmaids, and therefore has her dress and overnight stuff to carry, and she gives him a sidelong look. "You don't have to do that."

Shitty shrugs. "I know," he says, and follows her inside.

"Larissa!" cries a blonde woman, who looks a little like Rebel Wilson. "It's so good to see you!"

"Hey, Katie," Lardo says, and accepts a hug.

"And you must be Shitty!" Katie hugs him too, which is unexpected, but not bad.

"That's me," he agrees, patting her shoulder. "Nice to meet you."

"I've heard so much about you!" she goes on. "Come on, let me get you a drink and introduce you to George."

Lardo grabs Shitty's hand. He looks at her in surprise, and she gives him a look like she's daring him to say something about it. He just squeezes her hand and follows Katie to the drinks table.

George is a big, friendly guy, big enough to make Shitty feel about Bitty's size. His back-pounding hug nearly knocks the wind out of Shitty, who is no rookie when it comes to man hugs. "Good to meet you!" he booms. "Thanks for coming!"

"Glad we could make it," Shitty says. He grabs a beer and pops the top with his teeth so he doesn't have to let go of Lardo's hand. She does the same thing, and Katie laughs appreciatively, which makes Shitty like her even more.

The party is pretty low-key, especially for somebody who's used to Haus parties, but it's perfectly nice. More than that, if Shitty's honest and lets himself think about Lardo holding his hand. He's sure there's stuff to unpack about the performance of heterosexuality in this, but he's enjoying it anyway.

Around 10:30, the men all start to leave, so Shitty figures it's time to make himself scarce. "I'll see you tomorrow," he tells Lardo, then, on impulse, leans down to kiss her cheek.

She flushes like Chowder after two Natty Lights. "Yeah," she says. "Later," and lets go of his hand.

The drive back to the Haus is kind of lonely, but Shitty blasts Ke$ha and tries not to think about how empty his left hand feels. That would just be sad.

***

The morning of the wedding dawns bright and snowy. Shitty carefully grooms his 'stache and slicks his flow back into a bun, then dresses up in his favorite game-day suit.

"Looking good," Ransom says, poking his head into the bathroom. "Little early for a hot date, though, isn't it?"

"I'm going to a wedding with Lardo," Shitty says, adjusting his tie.

"Niiiiice." Ransom high-fives him. "Get it!"

"It's not --" Shitty starts to say, but Ransom is already gone. "Like that," he finishes quietly.

He stops at Murder Stop & Shop for a card on the way, signs it illegibly, and puts some money in it, because his mama raised him right, then gets on the road.

The wedding venue is a nice reception hall thing, and there's valet parking. He tucks the ticket in his jacket pocket and goes inside. There are flowers everywhere, dark red roses the same color as Lardo's dress, and a guy dressed like a waiter directs him to pick up a program.

Shitty flips through it once he's in a seat. There's Lardo's name, next to the name of one of the groomsmen he probably met last night. For a moment, he feels envious -- but that's fucking silly, he just met George last night, what would he be doing in his wedding? Somebody's going to read from 2 Corinthians, always a hit, and an E.E. Cummings poem, which Nursey would probably approve of.

Music starts up, something nice with strings, and Shitty turns to watch people come in. The groom is first, then the groomsmen, then two bridesmaids --

\-- and then Lardo. She could be followed by the whole roster of the Minnesota Wild, naked, for all Shitty cares. She has a flower in her hair and more flowers in her hands, and her shoulder is _there_ , and Shitty wants to fucking _worship_ her.

The minister says some words, probably, because Lardo is looking at her attentively, but Shitty is just looking at Lardo. A couple of times, he thinks she might be glancing at him, but he's in the same line of sight as the main attraction, so who knows? Not Shitty.

He picks up the thread when the bride and groom say their vows, which are moving as fuck: he has to wipe away a tear when the groom compares the two of them to amicable numbers -- he took enough math classes before declaring his majors to know how romantic that is. Lardo definitely catches his eye then, but whatever, it's not the first time she's seen him cry.

"And by the power vested in me by the state of Massachusetts, I now pronounce you husband and wife," says the minister. "You may now seal your union with a kiss!"

Katie and George smooch, and everybody cheers and claps. Shitty is genuinely happy for them, even though he's known them for less than 24 hours -- they're both fucking glowing as they walk down the aisle arm in arm, trailed by bridesmaids and groomsmen.

After that, everybody goes into the next room, which has tables and chairs around a dance floor, plus a bar. "Your name, sir?" asks one of the waiters.

"Uh, I'm Larissa Duan's 'and guest,'" Shitty says.

The waiter consults his cheat sheet. "Table 11, right over there."

Shitty takes a seat, leaving room for Lardo between him and another bridesmaid's husband, and turns the wedding favor, a little tin of tea, over in his hands. It has Katie and George's names on it, and the date, and it smells 'swawesome.

Music swells again, and the wedding party files in two by two, with the bride and groom last. Shitty can't stop looking at Lardo as Katie and George have their first dance to "At Last," then invite the bridesmaids and groomsmen to join them. He watches her hands, in the groomsman's hand and on his shoulder, thinking about how her hand felt in his, and his fingernails dig into his palm.

Then the song changes to Beyoncé's "Daddy," for the father-daughter dance, so Lardo comes over to Shitty and sits down. "Hey," she says softly.

He swallows hard. "Hey."

"Gonna dance with me?"

"Definitely."

Katie and her dad are actually really good dancers, which is fun to watch; George and his mom are awful, which is fun in a completely different way, because they're laughing like crazy while they -- "Are they trying to _Dougie?_ " Lardo asks under her breath.

"God only knows," Shitty says, and Lardo laughs.

"What a Wonderful World" comes on, and Lardo says, "That's our cue." She gets up and holds out her hand to him. "Mr. Knight?"

"Ms. Duan," he says, taking it, and gets to his feet.

The dance floor is packed, but there's enough room for the two of them. Shitty takes Lardo's hand in one of his and rests the other on the lace at her hip, feeling like his heart might burst out of his chest. Lardo looks up at him and says, "Don't step on my feet."

"It's not that different from skating, right?" Shitty says, starting to move.

"Oh, no, don't tell me that!" Lardo laughs, moving with him. 

"Okay, it's nothing like skating," he says obligingly. He'd say just about anything to have her here like this, smiling and dancing and so, so beautiful.

"Good," Lardo says. She looks at him consideringly. "Come with me."

She pulls him off the dance floor by the hand, right out of the reception room and over to a doorway he hadn't noticed by the entrance. "Where are we going?" he asks.

"Bridal suite," Lardo says. There are two couches covered in coats; she digs something out of the pocket of hers, then plants one hand in the center of Shitty's chest and pushes him backwards into the little bathroom.

He gets with the program about half a second after she pushes up on her toes and kisses him, but he likes to think that he makes up for his slowness in enthusiasm, kissing her like he's been trying not to think about for a while now. They make out like crazy until he's hard and gasping into Lardo's mouth.

"Take off your pants and sit down," Lardo directs, breaking the kiss and moving behind him to put down the toilet seat. When he does, she rolls a condom on him -- that must be what she got out of her jacket -- and hikes up her long satiny skirt to straddle him.

"Oh, fuck," Shitty says reverently.

"That's -- the idea," Lardo says, sinking down on his dick.

He slides his hands under the folds of her skirt to grasp her hips, soft warm skin, and kisses her again, because he can't fucking resist.

"I thought about this through the whole fucking ceremony." Lardo is rocking up and down, like waves, and it's better than he could have imagined. "You were looking at me, and I just wanted -- I wanted."

"I couldn't fucking _stop_ looking at you," Shitty says into her neck. "You're -- Lardo, you're so fucking beautiful."

"I do clean up pretty well," she says, and tugs the neck of her dress down to get one of her tits out, offering it to him.

"You mess up even better," he tells her, then licks her nipple, making her groan.

"Shitty," Lardo says. She's moving faster now, and she gets one hand down between them to rub her clit as he licks and sucks. "You're -- fuck."

"Yeah," Shitty says fervently. "I want -- can we -- next time --"

"Next time?" She looks at him, eyes wide, and he wants this, all of this, so fucking badly.

"Next time," he says. "Please?"

"'Kay," Lardo says, grinning, and he kisses her through it as she comes, clenching hard around his dick and arching her back. His orgasm hits him right after, and he buries his face in Lardo's shoulder so he doesn't cry out and give them away.

"We better go," she says, breathing hard.

"They might miss you," Shitty agrees.

"Meh." Lardo levers herself off him slowly. "You go out first."

"Cool." Shitty gets up, gets rid of the condom, and washes his hands. The mirror tells him he doesn't look like Lardo just ravished him, which is probably good, even though he kind of wants to hire a fucking skywriter. He settles for giving Lardo a kiss on his way out.

There's nobody in the bridal suite as Shitty goes through, and back in the reception room, most of their table is still dancing. He goes over to the bar and gets two beers, making it back to their seats just in time to set them down and pull out Lardo's chair for her.

"Thanks," she says, smirking up at him.

"Ah, young love," says the groom's grandmother, startling him. She pats him on the ass, and Lardo smothers a laugh. "So beautiful."

"Thank you, ma'am," Shitty says gravely. She continues on her path around the room, and he sits down and takes a long pull of his beer.

"Your ass is pretty beautiful," Lardo says, leaning into his shoulder. "I mean, you're no Jack Zimmermann, but..."

"No, but I do okay," Shitty says, and pats her hair. He really wants to run his fingers through it, but it looks so nice.

_Next time,_ he thinks, and grins.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from "What a Wonderful World." 
> 
> Lardo's bridesmaid dress, designed by my mother: [here](http://imgur.com/cnkC5jp)


End file.
